1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to heavy duty slides, and more particularly relates to heavy duty weld slides for holding work pieces or tooling in manufacturing environments.
2. Description of Related Art
Heavy duty slides have been known for many years in the art. Many of these slides have been used along assembly lines for moving parts into predetermined positions. The prior art slides include a moveable carriage that carries the part to a desired point or position on the assembly line. Generally, a pick up device is attached to the carriage and this device picks up the part from the carriage and moves it to the precise location along the assembly line or a work piece is connected to the carriage and the carriage is placed at a predetermined position such that a welding action or other action may be performed on the work piece in the assembly line of the manufacturing environment. Generally, these prior art slides are fluid powered and include a hydraulic pneumatic cylinder which in response to fluid pressure moves the carriage first in one direction along its path of travel and then the opposite direction along the same path of travel when moving between multiple predetermined positions.
Many of the prior art power slides include rods that have a system of bellows or telescoping covers to protect the rods from contaminates such as weld slag or the like found in the manufacturing environment. These prior art slides generally require labor intensive maintenance to replace or repair bearings and/or remove weld slag from key components during the operational lifecycle of the prior art heavy duty slides. Many of the prior art heavy duty slides require shut down of the manufacturing line to maintain the slides to ensure a repeatability that is within tolerances of manufacturers standards on the manufacturing lines.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved heavy duty slide for use in a manufacturing environment. There is also a need in the art for a heavy duty slide that has removable bearings that does not require removal of tooling from the carriage plate or the sliding plate of a heavy duty slide to replace, maintain or repair bearings in a manufacturing environment. There is also a need in the art for a heavy duty slide that has inverted rails that will prevent contamination of the rails and provide repeatable positioning for a predetermined number of cycles in the manufacturing environment. There is also a need in the art for a heavy duty slide that can use larger bearings in the range of 45 mm to 55 mm for heavier loads while still having a reliable maintenance free design that will prevent weld contamination and increase proficiency and durability of the manufacturing line by reducing down time of the line for cleaning and the like. There is also a need in the art for a heavy duty slide that has an integrated shock sensor system that does not require multiple adjustments after initial shimming of the integrated shock sensor system into the slide unit.